


Unexpected

by khazadqueen (ama)



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble, Gigolas Week, King Dís - Freeform, M/M, racebent character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-22
Updated: 2014-02-22
Packaged: 2018-01-13 09:57:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1221991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ama/pseuds/khazadqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Legolas first sets eyes on the young dwarf prince, he doesn't expect to fall in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unexpected

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little drabble from a fic I'm hoping to write after the Gigolas Bang, in which Dis declares herself king, allies herself with Thranduil, and makes Gimli her heir. Oh, and Gimli in this fic is based on leafpuppy's [fabulous design](http://leafpuppy.tumblr.com/post/75574436913). Happy Gigolas Week!

No one expects it. There's not much of this situation that anyone expects to happen--when Dain (gently) refuses to abdicate his throne to his cousin two full years after she abdicated it to him, he does not expect her to declare him a false king and march away with half the Longbeards in her wake. When Thranduil allows an audience with someone declaring herself Dis, daughter of Thrain son of Thror, King of Durin's folk, he does not expect it to end with the dwarves claiming possession of what was once Dol Goldur. When Legolas first sets eyes on the young dwarf they present as Dis's heir (skin like maple bark and eyes like iron, too hard for one so young, and a streak of henna-red in his hair that makes Legolas think _fire_ ), he does not expect to fall in love.

It does not start out as love. It starts out on the battlefield, a battlefield made up of shadows and twisted tree limbs and rotting plants watered by spider blood. Somehow they end up fighting almost back-to-back, Legolas and this _child_. Once the dwarf prince roars his battle cry and lifts his axe with two hands above his head, aiming for a spiders back, and Legolas rolls his eyes as his lips part because "foolish boy that is where their armor is the thickest--"

But before the words take shape their is a crack as the spider's exoskeleton is neatly spit in two and it shrieks, and the only thing that leaves Legolas's mouth is a surprised burst of air and "oh." He meets the prince's eyes and sees triumph shining there, smugness, savage glee. He is _strong_ , he is proud. His name is Gimli.

-

Decades later they walk the trees without fear, weapons ready at their backs and their feet steady. They are the deadliest things in the forest, they think--maybe they are right, maybe they are foolish. They are princes and warriors, and the darkness has never been deep enough that they could not chase it away.

"What did you think," Gimli asks, "when we first walked into your father's halls?"

"I wondered if we had enough cells to contain you all."

"Idiot," he says fondly. "Your knives against Dwalin's axes? Your king's single sword against mine's armory? You would not have stood a chance."

"A thousand years I have had to hone my skill; I think I might have had some chance."

"A thousand years of dancing and getting lost in the middle of a battle. You dream."

"Dwalin is not here," Legolas says with a catlike smile, and a blade is in his hand. "But you are. Shall we settle this?"

"Aye," Gimli says, but as the knife approaches his skin he reaches up and his hand wraps around the back of Legolas's neck and tugs him into a kiss.

He barely notices as the weapon is lightly lifted out of his hand. He closes his eyes and thinks _who would have guessed_?


End file.
